Film Critique Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee demonstrates his filmmaking prowess in his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. As with most of Lee's work, race relations are central to the story. With Do the Right Thing, Lee presents a bleak view of the nature and future of cross-cultural relationships in urban America. Mookie (played by Spike Lee) is a twenty-something African-American pizza delivery man. He works for Sal's Pizzeria, an establishment in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, which is a predominantly black neighborhood.

Mookie and Sal, despite their differences, reveal a remarkably similar worldview as the film progresses, and especially in their inability to resolve the racial tension that emerges in the film. Mookie and Sal develop a decent professional relationship, yet both retain lingering feelings of resentment toward the "other." Spike Lee does a remarkable job portraying mutual feelings of "otherness" in Do the Right Thing. The writer/director/actor shows that racism exists on both sides of the fence. Significant symbols accompany Lee's themes.

The "Wall of Fame" is more than just a wall full of pictures. As a poor representative of Sal's patrons, the wall symbolizes the barrier between cultures depicted in Do the Right Thing, especially between blacks and Italian-Americans. The wall, to Buggin' Out, represents racism; it is a physical reminder of segregation and bigotry. Sal's refusal to acknowledge Buggin' Out's feelings as valid is a source of much of the ensuing violence. Pino exhibits an extreme version of his father's more subtle racism.

Pino's resentment of the African-American community fuels the violent climax of the film; like Sal's wall, he won't budge. Thus, the wall between the Italian-American (white) community and the African-American (black) community grows stronger. The only way to release the tension, according to Lee, is through the emotional expression of violence and anger. Sal explodes, calling Radio Raheem a "nigger." This sudden eruption causes the floodgates of hatred to open, leading to death and destruction.

Moderation is embodied by Pino's brother Vito, who appears to be the least affected by the scourge of racism. Within each family and each culture is a stream of moderation, tolerance, and compassion. Unfortunately, his voice is the last to be heard; the politics of pride and segregation dominate most of the characters in Lee's film. In a diverse society like Bedford-Stuyvesant, it seems completely unproductive to hold on to rigid misconceptions about the "other." The same situation can be seen in the macrocosm of the real world.

India and Pakistan are often at the brink of a nuclear war. Both nations possess the materials and the gumption to end their cross-cultural crisis in violence, just as Moochie and the other characters in Do the Right Thing did. An article on the Women Waging Peace website depicts a more optimistic view of the India-Pakistan conflict. Rita Manchanda "challenges years of institutional partition," a partition even greater than Sal's wall. Manchanda approaches the volatile conflict within her country by examining all facets of the India-Pakistan relationship, especially gender relations.

Her vision of peace is based on mutual understanding and tolerance. Yet, with a billion people residing on the subcontinent, it seems equally as likely for the relationships to fall apart as they did in Do the Right Thing. As in the film, people die as they hold deeply rooted racist beliefs. One of the main themes and motifs in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing is impasse. Sal's Wall of Fame symbolizes this cross-cultural impasse, just as the Kashmiri boarder represents it on the subcontinent.

In Do the Right Thing, both the African-Americans and the Italian-Americans have a valid point: both want to retain their ethnic and cultural identities without succumbing to oppression and pressure. The patrons of Sal's are mostly black; therefore, Buggin' Out feels miffed that Sal would only showcase Italian-Americans on his wall. Yet Sal does not include photos of Asian-Americans either, even though there are Asians in their community.

Sal's choice to display Italians on his wall might be borne of a lingering superiority complex, but Buggin' Out chooses to view the act as a sign of hatred and intolerance rather than mere ethnic pride. The conflict between India and Pakistan exhibits similar sentiments. Kashmir, like Sal's pizzeria, becomes the battleground of racial tension. Both Indians and Pakistanis view the property as theirs. Similarly, both the blacks and the Italians view the area as theirs.

The characters in Lee's film would do well to practice Manchanda's idea of reconsidering maps and geographic boundaries. As with Kasmir, Cyprus is a geographic bone of.